Statement on Egypt with an Eye on Iran: Mousavi's First Warning About "Fall of Regime"

In his latest statement, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the leader of Iran's protest
movement, commonly known as the Green Movement, commented on the uprising of the
Egyptian people and said, "If the government respected the sovereignty of the
people in determining its fate and had not stolen the Egyptian elections a few
months earlier, things would not have come to the point where the protestors
were calling for the fall of the regime." Journalist Rouzbeh Ebrahimi from New
York interpreted Mousavi's remark to be directed at Iranian leaders, even though
he used Egypt as his example. In fact, this is the very first time that Mousavi
has used the term "fall of the regime" in his statement.

Photo:
Massive protest rally by opposition in central Tehran on June 15, 2009

Mousavi's statement which was initially published on Kalameh website (his
official website) reads, "The interests behind the ideology ruling the country
(i.e., Iran) do not allow realities to be presented. The loudspeakers and
spokespersons of the leaders do not pay attention to the corrupt and dictatorial
actions of the Egyptian pharaoh which has created this explosive situation in
Egypt through arrests, interrogations, fabrication of cases, and the plundering
of people through gangs and associates."

Mousavi says that while Iranian leaders talk of the wrath of the Egyptian
people, they do not talk about the acts that have caused this anger, such as
corruption at the highest level of government, plundering of the national
wealth, the shutting of mouths and breakings of pens, executions, executions and
more executions.

Mir-Ebrahimi openly writes that Mousavi's statement is a warning to the rulers
of the Islamic republic in that if they do not heed and listen to people's
calls, they will one day face the same outcome as the rulers of Egypt. The
writer says Mousavi cleverly used a regional event to issue his warning to
Iranian leaders.

Events that have been unfolding in Egypt are not new to Iranians. Street
protests, plainclothes agents violence against peace protests, arrests etc took
place on a wide scale in Iran throughout last year.

In his statement Mousavi says that Pharaohs heard the calls of the Egyptian
people too late. His statement about what is going on in Egypt is like an
allegory which could easily be applied to Iran which has been in political
crisis since June 2009 presidential elections whose official results have
remained widely disputed by millions of Iranians.

But has Mousavi given up on expecting change from the leaders of Iran? Mir
Ebrahimi answers in the negative. "Someone in Mousavi's shoes should not shut
all the doors because the cost of a revolutionary act in Iran is less than that
of accepting fundamental changes by the leaders.

But Mousavi also makes a direct reference to Iranian events in the statement and
says that the beginnings of the riots and protests in Tunisia, Sana'a, Cairo and
Alexandria lie in the massive protests of Tehran and other Iranian cities in
2009 and 2010. "They began by asking 'Where is my vote' in Iran, and continued
with calling for the downfall of their presidents," the statement reads. He even
compares the fraudulent elections in Egypt and in Iran and says that civil
institutions in all of these regional countries are suppressed by rulers, as are
the means of their communications with each other.

Mir Ebrahimi notes that even if the events in the Arab world have sprung because
of events in Iran, they all use the same methods to communicate, protest and
express their demands.

Mousavi ends his statement by predicting "big events" for the region which would
impact the nations of the regions and the world.

Related Article: Green Pharaons New Names for Mousavi and Karoubi
- Immediately after Mir-Hossein Mousavi published his statement on the
developments in the Middle East, pro-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad news sites in Iran
responded with verbal attacks and viewed it as acknowledgement of the
accusations that the principlists (a group supporting Ahmadinejad) have leveled
against the leaders of the Green Movement in Iran, which one news site called
"the green Pharaohs."